Anime: Star Ocean Ex

The style of drawing look rather old. How the monster moves and attack also look like it "recycles" some old ideas.

I'm a music idiot so can't really comment on the sound. :) But I like the ED.

I like the story. Although there is some strange and funny part abt it. But I still like it. Example, why Diaz/Dias don't join the party after the Lacour incident?? I juz don't get it.

Character-wise, it's the part that score. The character juz grow stronger as the story progress. I like Ashton, Gyouro and Ururun. First their name is cute(Gyouro and Ururun). Then when they r talking(Gyouro and Ururun). The most wacky part is when they r eating. Example, Ashton says "Itatakimasu"(Is it correct?? Didn't learn Jap before, not very sure) then Gyouro and Ururun just seize the food from him.

I don't think I will watch it again. It just Gyouro and Ururun will make me watching it again. Yeah, maybe Precis in Linga. That's all.

This is a splendid?? anime. I don't know how to express it. It is not top notch neither is it a trash, it's somewhere between above average and good. I would recommand it to others who like this genre.

*P.S. I intend to give it a 8 for story, but the ending is the -1 point I give to the story part. The ending is also quite expected that's another
-0.5. But it rounds up to become 7.

(Please note that this review will contain a plot summary and that later in this review there will be a major gripe about the ending.)

I was first drawn to this series by the fact that so many people said "blah" to it. Quite a few reviews that I had read seemed to say that the story was mediocre, the characters were mediocre, and the video game for the PlayStation console was much better. Me, I like to give many animes a fair shot. I am, after all, a fan of Pokemon (which many people have lambasted). So, after hearing so many mediocre things about this series, I guess I wanted to say that all of these other people were wrong. Well...

The story begins not unlike many other fantasy stories. Claude C. Kenni has always lived in his father's shadow. His father is an admiral in the space command and a hero of several interplanetary wars. Growing up, Claude has always seen other people look at him as "the son of the admiral," not as an individual person. Thus, he was provided with nothing but the best in terms of training and while he didn't do poorly at all, Claude was convinced that it was all because of his father.

After his training ended, Claude joined his father's ship as a member of the general crew. En route to a mission, they discovered a planet that was quite... broken down. Amongst the remnants of the civilization there, Claude found a weird device and against his father's commands activated it. The device turned out to have the ability to transfer people across space and time. Claude was teleported to another planet.

The planet was in turmoil because of an astral body that had recently crashed into it called the Sorcery Globe. The Sorcery Globe spawned monsters and had overtaken the entire continent of El. Claude however, landed in a hamlet far from El. There, he met a mysterious young girl named Rena Lanford. Because he was able to vanquish a monster with his phase gun, Rena believed that Claude was the legendary hero of light, a prophesized hero with foreign clothing and a sword of light who would come from another world to rid the planet of evil. Claude was thrust into the position of hero by Rena and thus set out to find out the meaning behind the Sorcery Globe. I should note that his character could have been somewhat interesting, but the writers missed their mark. Claude has no self-confidence and while many other characters in animes, movies, books, and whatever struggle with their fate, Claude just whined and moved on. There was no turmoil and no angst. It was as though he was saying, "Well, I'm not the legendary hero of light, but I might as well try this. Don't expect me to win though." I found it horrible.

Throughout Star Ocean EX, the viewer can see where the RPG was sewn together. A "perfect party" is compiled and throughout the story, people come, go, and are reunited unceremoniously. I almost felt as though I was getting a "X has joined the party!" message at some points. The first of the characters to join Claude's party is the aforementioned Rena Lanford. I described her as "mysterious" before because she was an orphan and no one knew where she came from. Rena too came wrapped in foreign clothing. Anyways, besides that, Rena seems to play the role of the weak and supportive female love interest to a tee. She reminded me quite a bit of Sakuraba Aoi from "Ai Yori Aoshi." However, she also had the part of the cleric and had the ability to heal anyone.

Celine was a magic user with most of the classic moves: "Thunder Bolt," "Explode," "Fire Bolt," and a few others. She is a bit older than Claude and Rena, but fits the "hyper girl" persona well. She didn't really have any charcter development.

The only character that I really liked in Star Ocean EX was a fighter named Ashton. He was unique amongst all other animes(!!) I've seen because he had two dragons growing out of his back, Gyoro (who breathes fire) and Ururun (who breathes ice). Ashton doesn't really want them there, but he learns to tolerate them. Like Claude, his character itself is pretty weak and similarly as a fighter, he isn't that strong. However, sometimes Gyoro and Ururun take control of his body and then Ashton becomes super strong. After the first few episodes with Ashton, Gyoro, and Ururun, the angst at having dragons in his back dies down, but after that, Ashton supplies a great source of comedy. He has a fetish for... barrels... and little girls... and thus Gyoro and Ururun can often be heard making bemused grunts, laughing at him, or even crying because they chose to use him as a host. I was left in stitches during most of Ashton's screentime.

Dias is a childhood friend of Rena's and fulfills the strong silent swordsman cast. He serves as a mentor (kinda) and rival to Claude and teaches Claude the only special moves Claude knows.

Precis is the little girl that Ashton has feelings for. She is really hyper and runs around the screen with little purpose failing to create useful inventions.

Leon, like Precis, is a little kid that invents things. He is also quite annoying, but at least he proves a bit useful. He invented the Lacour Hope, a gun powered by spells that he hoped would be strong enough to destroy the Sorcery Globe. He also has the ability to cast the spell "Acid Rain." In typical RPG fashion, Claude and co ran into a boss that they could not defeat in normal fashion. Celine issued the comment, "If only I could use 'Acid Rain'..." and voila, Leon started to cast it.

Opera and Ernest are two other space travelers who appear throughout the story to randomly guide the party. There are also three thieves and a doctor who for some reason also make it to El.

The characters (besides Ashton) were pretty bad... but nothing compared to how they battled. Each of them had their "special moves." Claude and Diaz had "Houkoha" and another one which thankfully escapes me. Celine had "Fire Bolt," "Explode," and "Thunder Bolt." Leon had "Acid Rain." Ashton and his parasite could freeze or burn things. Between those moves, each enemy was summarily defeated. It felt cheap.

Speaking of cheap, the ending was absolutely terrible. If you don't want to know how the series ends, I would suggest now skipping to the next paragraph.... So the party has won and the controller of the Sorcery Globe has been defeated. The sky changes from black to blue and everything looks as though it has been resolved. All of a sudden, this big black bubble appears, makes a "mwahaha" noise, and says, "I will continue my master's plan and destroy this world." Then... seriously... a big bird came out of the sky and stopped time. The device that teleported Claude to the world in the first place was planted on the ground and the big bird said, "In order to stop this from occurring on other worlds, enter the portal and defeat the enemy at the source." Claude and his whole party (including Precis, Leon, Opera, Ernest, the random doctor, and the useless thieves) were engulfed in a green light. Claude tried to give a motivating speech and then the ending theme was cued. CHEAP.

The animation and sound reminded me of something from the early 90's... which is bad considering that the series was made in 2001. I can seriously say that Yu Yu Hakusho looked much better than Star Ocean EX. As for sound... don't expect anything there either. There wasn't any good ambient music and the opening and closing themes (while they did fit the show's mood) didn't impress me. It was stock jpop.

Unfortunately, I can't say that my opinion was any different from most of the other reviewers' opinions. In fact, my rating may well be lower than theirs. If you don't have anything else you would rather watch, give Star Ocean EX a try. If you want to see Ashton in action, give Star Ocean EX a try. Otherwise, I would suggest moving on to another title.

In my opinion the seiyuu are fine but the soundtrack is poor and the drawing in general could be improved.
The plot is funny and interesting. The characters are really cool, especially Ashton and the dragons, they spice up the comedy. As a group they couldn't be better, there are an healer, one sorceress and two swordsman. The main character, Claude, evolves during the plot as do Rena (healer) too.
The good/evil fight is a classic among these kind of anime and is well pictured here. That and the adventure + friendship are what makes me want to see it again in a near future!
Basically it's a nice easy seeing title that makes you laugh and dream.